(Newser)
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The FDA has declared a genetically engineered salmon safe for human consumption, putting it one brief swim away from a supermarket near you. Dubbed AquAdvantage Salmon, the Massachusetts-bred fish have been enhanced with a gene from an ocean pout—an eel-like fish—that allows them to grow all year round, putting them at salable size in just 18 months. “We’ve been studying this fish for more than 10 years,” says the company’s CEO. “This is an Atlantic salmon. It looks like an Atlantic salmon. It tastes like an Atlantic salmon.”

But critics complain that the deliberations have all been behind closed doors, and that much of the company’s data has been kept under wraps, reports the Washington Post. “There’s a transparency problem,” says the head of a group that opposes the fish’s approval. Others worry about the ecological implications if an AquAdvantage salmon escaped its fish farm and mingled with endangered wild salmon. "This is very, very complex," said an expert in genetically modified organisms.

The article's right, the situation is very complex and there a lot of concerns. But the people freaking out like OMG GENETICALLY MODIFIED are just ignorant alarmists. We've been genetically modifying food forever, albeit with the very slow and clumsy method of artificial selection. Now we have more direct and precise methods and of course we will use them.

stevsie

Sep 7, 2010 10:14 AM CDT

no more salmon for me... thanks Fools and Dumb Asses... now go drink a diet soda.